Manufacture of vehicle wheels



Jan. 22, 1929. 7 1,700,072

- i A. E. OWEN ET AL MANUFACTURE OF VEHICLE WHEELS Filed May 9, 1928 Patented Jam 22, 1929.

U IT-so STATES PATENT OFFICE.

murnc'runn or warms.

Application fled lay 9, 192a, sci-m1 no. 276,428, and in Great Britain February 24,- 1927.

This invention relates to the manufacture of vehicle wheels and has-for its object to provide an im roved method of securing the several ends the spokes to the rim whereby economy in manufacture is obtained without impairing the strength or affecting the appearance of the finished wheel. 1 v he present method relates particularly to that described in the specification filed with our application for patent of the United;

States of America Serial No. 147,545, -filed November 10th, 1926, of reinforcing the outer ends of the spokes by means of ferrules and pressing or swaging the portions of the rim '15 coincident with and adjacent to the said outer ends of the spokes into the interior of. the

spokes, the portions of the rim thus pressed into the spokes forming spigots that firmly hold the several spokes in position adjacent to the rim.

Accordin to the improved method forming the su 'ect matter of this invention, which isappficable to'the construction of any type of wheel wherein tubular spokes are to be secured to any form of rim, the several spokes are secured to the rim bymeans of split spi ots pressed out of the material of the rim 1nto the outer ends of the spokes, a pressing or swaging .tool or punchbeing employed of such formation that the turned-in ortion or spigot is split or dividedwithin t e end of the spoke, the split spigot is, thenwelded to i the interior of the spoke and a ferrule drawn over the end of the spoke to cover up the joint between the spoke and the rim and the space which ma be present between the end of the'spoke an the rim due to the curve of the rim. The said ferrule is shaped to conform to the inner peripheral surface of the rim to which it isattached by riveting or any known method of welding;

In order that the method emplo ed in accordance with our invention may e clearly understood and readily carried out reference may now be made to the accompanying'drawings in which similar referencecharacters relate" to corresponding parts in all the figures.

In the said drawings, Figure is a sectional elevation on the line A-'- and Figure 2 a similar view on the line C -D Figure 1, showing the sp it spigot i being pressed out of the rim into he outer end of a spoke by means of a pressing tool or punch shown at the completion of its' 0 erative stroke in Figure 1 and retracted in igure 2.

Figure 2 Figures 3 and 4 are similar views after the operation is completed and the split spigot has been welded'to the spoke and Figure 5 shows the method applied to a rim provided with projections engaging simi-' larly formed indentations on the ferrules.

Referring to the drawings'in which a represents the wheel rim, 6 one of the hollow spokes, a a spigot pressed out of the material of the rim ainto the outer end of the spoke b by means of the pressing tool or punch d and e one of the aforesaid ferrules, it will be seen that the nose of the punch d is ground so that two or more cutting edges 7 are formed thereon that, when the punch d is forced through the rim a (Figures 1 and 2) split the spigot c leaving definite gaps g. The split spigot c is then welded, preferably electrically, to the inside of the spoke for the full length of the gaps 9 Figures 3 and 4) and the ferrule e is then rawn over the joint of the spoke b and the rima is described above andis se cured to the rim a. The thimbles m fill the holes in the rim a formed by the punch d.

, As shown in Figure 5 this method can be employed in conjunction with the protrusions or projections it formed on the rim a and engaging with similarly formed seatings or indentations k on the ferrules e as described in the speclfication' of our patent application Serial No. 147,545 previously referred to and by its employment the costly operations of cleaning up by grinding or filing, necessa when the rim and spokes are joined by we ding outside the spokes, is avoided without detractin from the appearance of the finished whee.

' -Wh at-. we claim is In the manufacture of vehicle wheels, pressing or swaging the material of the rim coincident with or adjacent to the outerend of each of the several spokes into the interior thereof in such a manner that the operation of ressing 'or' swaging causes the splitting wit inthe spokes of the portions or spigots so pressed out, then welding the split spigots to the inside of the spokes and applying ferrules to the outer ends of the spokes and securmg scribed.

In testimony whereof we aflix our signatures.

; ALFRED ERNEST OWEN.

ROBERT WILFORD DOWNS.

same to the rim substantially as de- 

